Race Across the West: less about speed, more about endurance

Dave Disney bikes Wednesday, May 28, in north Loveland in preparation for competition in the Race Across the West, an 860-mile bike race that sets off June 10. He hopes to complete the race in under three days with three or fewer hours of rest. (James Garcia / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

Dave Disney admits that he's never been the fastest. But his endurance has kept him in the race for a long time.

And beginning Tuesday, the Loveland native will set off on his biggest endurance challenge yet: Race Across the West, a grueling 860-mile nonstop bicycle race from Oceanside, Calif., to Durango. The riders are given less than four days to complete the race.

Disney hopes to finish it in less than three.

"I'll be on the bike for probably about two days, 24 hours a day, with maybe an hour nap," he said. "I'm hoping to finish in under three days, at about 300 miles a day — more if possible."

The race organizers encourage participants to choose a cause or charity to ride for. Disney has chosen to endure for Foothills Gateway, a nonprofit that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Northern Colorado.

"I think it's the race's way of trying to do good and be ambassadors between the bike community and the public," he said. "There's really no good reason to ride 800 miles, so doing it for a cause justifies it, or just makes it right."

Anyone interested in supporting Disney and his cause can make mileage pledges (a penny per mile, etc.), donations and sponsorships. He has raised around $2,000 for the cause so far.

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"(Foothills Gateway) has been involved in my life personally. It's a very quiet nonprofit that does a lot of things for a lot of people," he said.

An endurance race such as this requires extensive training, with years of physical and mental preparation. Disney has raced across Colorado twice in the last 12 months and did the 383-mile No Country for Old Men in West Texas in 2012.

One of the biggest concerns Disney has with this race is the sleep deprivation that comes with only resting a few hours in a 36-hour period. Besides the challenge of staying awake on the bike, after a certain period of sleeplessness there is a risk of suffering from hallucinations.

"But the thing I'm most worried about is that I'm going to ride through the desert. It's going to get up into the 100s," Disney said. "But once you get to the middle of Arizona, the temperatures will cool down."

His trick to avoid heat sickness and cramping comes down to a carefully developed balance of electrolyte intake. Disney has found, through many trials, a combination of electrolyte-rich pills and fluids that meet his body's requirements.

"Every time you go and suffer, you take away something positive, hopefully," he said, recounting an experience where he was forced to push through cramps for hours on end.

Disney said he eats a reasonable diet and does regular yoga, stretching and massages to help him stay fit and limber. For his maximum level of comfort, he uses a Brooks leather saddle on his bicycle that was donated by the bike and coffee shop Crankenstein based in Fort Collins.

For those interested in participating in longer rides, he recommends looking up people's personal accounts of endurance races and to find century rides (100 miles, usually within 12 hours).